Imagine
12 of the best American women's basketball players on one team. They are not divided
up into East and West teams in an entertaining All-Star Game, but wearing the
red, white and blue and representing their country against the top teams and players
in the world. Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, Diana Taurasi, Tamika Catchings,
Sue Bird and Seimone Augustus, just to name a few. But several nations will challenge
the United States for global supremacy. Australia is loaded with WNBA talent,
as is Russia. Nearly every competitor nation will have some sort of WNBA representation,
past or present. On the eve of the biggest international tournament until the
2008 Olympics, we spoke with a number of players about the team, the competition
and what to expect in Brazil. A roundtable, if you will...

Tina
Thompson is excited about the returning nucleus for the United States.Kent
Smith/NBAE/Getty Images

Q. Is just a couple of weeks
of practice enough time to prepare for a world tournament?

Sue Bird:
"The one thing about USA Basketball is everyone is so selfless and with that
you have a group of people who just want to win, so the chemistry's there automatically.
There are some great teams out there, a lot of talent, and we all know it. We
play overseas so we see it all the time."

Q. How comforting is it
to know that you have the same nucleus for the World Championships?

Tamika
Catchings: "I think it's really comforting, just because we haven't really
had time to practice. I think sometimes in certain situations when you put a totally
new team together, with two or three core players, it's kind of hard, but we know
that we have seven or eight players that are used to playing with each other and
know each others styles to an extent, the week and a half that we'll have to prepare
will be used wisely I'm sure, and obviously having Anne and Dawn and Gail will
also help since we know they're coaching styles."

Katie Smith: "It's
great to have history with people where you have played the international scene
with, but it's also a situation where you have to work the kinks out quickly,
and also add some of the newcomers, but to be able to have some of that experience
under our belt is really important, especially coming into the World Championships.
It's going to be a battle, but the bottom line is our goal is to win a gold medal
and whatever it takes we will individually do."

Diana Taurasi: "Whenever
you have a team that has played together, and knows their strengths and weaknesses,
their game, when you finally come together, it's easier. So for us it's a positive."

Tina
Thompson: "I think our nucleus is very important in that that's one of the
things that is very special about the woman's side in that we make a commitment
to players being around for three or four Olympics and you don't necessarily find
that very often."

Q. Is the United States still the team to beat
heading into this tournament?

Katie Smith: "We're still the
team to beat, I think teams are narrowing the gap in that more teams are competitive,
but I also think if we had more time to be together, I still think the gap would
be as wide, but with the little time that we are able to get together, that it
obviously is narrowed."

Diana Taurasi: "It's kind of like us against
the world, when we were in Athens we kind of experienced a little bit of that.
It's the greatest country in the world, but we're hated by everyone which kind
of disappointing. When you do represent your country and the United States you
want to do it to the utmost respect level and basketball level."

Taurasi
and the younger American stars know they can learn a lot from the veterans.K.
Smith/NBAE/Getty Images

Q. Is the rest of the world
catching up? Is the gap shrinking?

Tina Thompson: "Well I
think so, I think that with anything, there's upward mobility. People get better,
they evolve, and I think that with the WNBA that has been brought back to the
forefront, a lot of players from other countries are getting a chance to see the
basketball in America and see how we play, and really become familiar with how
we approach the game. With knowledge you can do anything, and I think that becoming
that way with the WNBA, and with them playing at home and getting the experience
to come play in the WNBA it definitely gives them a broader perspective, and with
that anything is possible. So I do think the rest of the world is getting closer
but it is something we are aware of and with that knowledge we take our game to
another level as well.

Q. How important is it that the younger players
get to play with the experienced U.S. veterans and inherit that legacy?

Katie
Smith: "It's huge, because it's the pride thing, it's the importance of being
there for all the training and the competition and not taking it off, because
we can't take for granted that we're going to win everything, we can't take it
for granted that we're the best in the world. You might be the best individually,
but you have to play as a team to get it done. So it's just you have to see the
work ethic and see the pride as you want it, also they have a little bit of it
and they've seen it, but also to have that makes them see that this is our job
and we're going to out here and we're going to work, just the professionalism
of it. And obviously we are going to leave it in very capable hands."

Diana
Taurasi: " I think it's important to be around them, because they're winners
and you want to be around people who win. There's a real calculation of winning,
it's hard work, dedication, and not being afraid. And the guys that we are following,
they have all three of them."

Tina
Thompson: "Some people might have an opinion that players like Dawn, Sheryl
and Lisa dominate USA Basketball and maybe they should give someone another chance.
But in my opinion that's not the case. We are successful because of that commitment,
Lisa and Sheryl and Dawn have been committed to our country and it's set a standard,
like the players before set a standard like Katrina McClain and Teresa Edwards.
Because we take home that personality and embrace commitment, it's allowed us
to be as successful as we have been, and we hope that tt continues to be that
way and I think the younger players are embracing that attitude because it's a
personality, you become a totally different person when you step into that realm
and wear that uniform and represent the USA, because it means so much, so we take
it seriously."

Lisa Leslie (who withdrew to attend to a family matter):
"It's extremely important. I really like the new group of young players that had
just come in. I think they're playing excellent basketball and are really living
up to all their draft picks and all that, so I feel really good about that. I
think it's important to not just pass on basketball, but there's a bigger picture
of who we represent and how we represent ourselves. I think the girls have to
see the big picture as far as what we do in the community, our ability to speak
and motive people and children, and also appearance. I think it's essential that
we're not just passing on the fact that we play basketball but the total package."